Redband Survey Update

Redband Spawning Habitat by Taylor McCroskey

We recently checked in with EWU grad student Taylor McCroskey to see how the study was coming along for the proposed redband spawning habitat structure. Here is a brief write up of what Taylor is seeing:

During the study, using day and night snorkel surveys (Picture 1) as well as minnow traps, in the proposed Starr Road habitat enhancement area and two reference reaches, one below and one above Starr Road, only two adult and 5 juvenile redband trout have been identified. Since Starr Road has been identified by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) as one of the major spawning beds in the upper most Spokane River and no redbands have been seen here, this leads to speculation that this fish moved downstream early to seek cold water refuge. For the smallmouth bass portion of the study, 214 fish have been tagged so far, using both Floy ® tags (Picture 2) and Elastomer ©, during the night electrofishing and angling surveys in June and July. Diet samples (Picture 3) taken from smallmouth bass have shown some piscivory occurring, although most samples contain crayfish and both aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates. Study efforts will continue through the end of August and detailed results of the study will be presented once the study is completed.